This Sunday, Drug Control Police (PCD) officers found 202 kilos of cocaine inside an organic banana container in Puerto Caldera, Puntarenas, according to the press office of the Ministry of Public Security (MSP).
It wasn’t until Monday morning that the packages were counted. The drug came from Ecuador and it was headed to Guatemala. The wrappers with the cocaine were sealed with dies that expose the “bitcoin” symbol – a virtual currency used for worldwide electronic transactions.
This method of hiding drugs in fruit shipments and other legal products is not new, because in 2018, the authorities reported the discovery of millionaire shipments of cocaine to other countries from Costa Rica.
On August 14th, PCD agents seized a pineapple shipment with 133 kilos of cocaine that were going to Ireland. Then, on October 25th, Spain revealed to the world a historic blow to drug trafficking, thanks to the discovery of six tons of cocaine hidden in a container of banana that had left Costa Rica.
Costa Rican authorities have pointed out that organized crime maintains contacts in lawful companies in order to hide important quantities of narcotics for international traffic.